'A wild goose chase,' is credited as first appearing in Romeo and Juliet by the OED, but it had appeared at least six times in English poet Gervase Markham's book about horsemanship a few years earlier in 1593.

“徒劳无功”在《牛津英语词典》中被认为是第一次出现在《罗密欧与朱丽叶》里，但是这个短语1593之前几年就在英国诗人哲瓦斯·马克汉姆有关于马术的书中至少出现过6次。

'Eaten out of house and home' is thought to first appear in Henry IV part two, written in the 1590s, but examples from as early as 1578 have been found.

“食大如牛”被认为第一次出现在《亨利四世》第二部分，写于19世纪60年代，但是早于1578年就被发现有相关例子。

'Without rhyme or reason' was thought to come from As You Like it but earlier versions can be traced back to the 1400s.

“无缘无故”被认为是出自莎士比亚的《皆大欢喜》，但是最早的版本可以追溯到14世纪。

However, Shakespeare is thought to have made them more 'concise' and 'catchy'.He did still invent most of his famous quotations, including 'to make an ass of oneself'.'His audiences had to understand at least the gist of what he meant, so his words were mostly in circulation already or were logical combinations of pre-existing concepts,' writes Dr McInnis.

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